mrs. G and I .. no longer being quite as fit as we once were decided this past weekend that it's time for those diets again.

however mrs. G got to the office this morning and found out one of her colleagues , very fit - Jim Fixx type of guy ( American by the way ) died of a sudden massive heart attack.

AND

another colleague had to fly home to Toronto as she just got news that her sister has had a brain aneurysm and is in coma, expected terminal.



could someone pass the butter please.

__________________
Champagne don't make me crazy...

screw the butter!!!

someone get me to a doctor, cause that illness trend is clearly going south....

My philosophy is that we're all born with a finite number of heart beats, and I'm damned if I'm going to waste any of them in the gym

Sorry for all of the sad news
I'm currently in the process of getting rid of my baby weight and I personally find that at the times when I'm feeling blue, I am even more strict with myself to not eat junk and / or overindulge. It makes me feel better that at least something is going well or else I just feel double blue

didn't someone try that in "American Pie"

No it was the actual pie!

Quite a few people have unknown but severe body defects.

Sometimes these are discovered during routine examinations.
Sometimes these are discovered by chance (when something else is unrelated is being examined).
Sometimes these are not discovered at all and the person dies of old age.
Sometimes these cause a catastrophic failure and premature death.

Live life! You don't get a second chance and you never know what may be around the corner.

I started a diet earlier in the year and whilst it went a bit south with the stress we had for a while, I've lost a third of the weight I want to.

I got the incentive I needed when I looked at my parents-in-law, in their mid 60's they're as active (if not more so) than we are. My FIL just came 9th in his age-group at the world masters swimming games and my MIL rides, kayaks and plays golf. Then I looked at where my Grandmothers were at the same age. Both had serious health issues, were/ are overweight and one is now no longer quite with it mentally. Neither did any exercise or paid much attention to their diets. I want to live a long, healthy life and so decided to start to change my lifestyle.

I hate the gyms here (I desperately miss our Virgin active gym in Sydney) and so find I'm getting my exercise in other ways. I joined the bike rental scheme in Lausanne, walk most places, do yoga at home and... eat cake on Sundays!

I wish you the very best! With two of you making changes you'll be more likely to succeed as you'll be able to help eachother

Well I guess genetics have a lot to do in what you die from, maybe the guy had extremely high cholesterol levels...poor guy though

Even more reason to look after your body.

Not to be pedantic, but as long as you're eating you're "on a diet." I don't know why people use the word only to denote some diversion from their usual eating habits. Thinking like this is half the problem. Your diet is what you eat, and to be healthy you need to eat properly all or most of the time, not just a couple days out of the month or a few weeks out of the year. It's stupid and probably more harmful to yo yo "diet" than it is to just eat crap all the time.

So properly stated the question is thus, "[is it] time for a change in diet?" Framing the question properly is important, as it takes a lot of commitment to permanently change what one eats, but that's what it takes. If it's conceptualized properly then one is less likely to attempt something unsustainable. The change has to be permanent but it can be done slowly to increase the odds that it will be.

the benefits of exercise extend to not just living longer, but living better. perhaps no amount of exercise could have prevented this guy's clogged arteries, but i bet that every day he woke up, he felt healthier, stronger, less aches and pains than most of his age group peers. i hope you reconsider healthier living.

I know a couple of brothers whose family had a history of heart disease and consequential premature death down the male line.

Both brothers made a conscious decision when they were young (in their early twenties) not to smoke, not to become overweight and to avoid red meat and other artery-blocking food stuffs.

For them, this wasn't a question of being a bit healthier but of life and death.

(I probably shouldn't mention the fact that one of them became a paraglider manufacturer test pilot )

I googled to find out who Jim Fixx was, as I had not heard of him before. Seems "Fixx was genetically predisposed (his father died of a heart attack aged 43 and Fixx himself had a congenitally enlarged heart) and several lifestyle issues (Fixx was a heavy smoker prior to beginning running aged 36, he had a stressful occupation, he had undergone a second divorce, and his weight before he took up running had ballooned to 220lbs)."

I think running extended his life by a few years and let him enjoy those years more than if he had done nothing about it. The abuse you put your body through cannot be completely undone.

But then again, there has to be balance, anything in extreme is bad. Given his background issues, maybe the amount of running he did was too much for his body, given its genetic predisposition and other issues.

The "I'm not going to start running or take other exercise as a friend of mine had a heart attack whilst running" excuse is very similar to the "I'm not going to give up smoking as my grandfather smoked 60 a day and lived to 85".